Microsoft Debuts $999 Surface Laptop, 'Streamlined' Windows 10 S, and More at Education Event

Microsoft today unveiled an all-new "Surface Laptop," a student- and teacher-focused Windows 10 S, new features for Minecraft: Education Edition, a new Surface Arc Mouse, and more at an education-focused event in New York. The hardware reveal of the Surface Laptop marks the first major computer launch for the company since last year's debut of the Surface Book and Surface Studio, the former of which saw huge sales numbers thanks to churn from the "disappointment" of the 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, according to Microsoft.

When compared to the Surface Book's unique reversible hinge, the just-announced Surface Laptop is more traditionally built with a clamshell design and four color options: burgundy, platinum, cobalt blue, and graphite gold. Microsoft is aiming the Surface Laptop at the grade school and college education market, but the laptop will still be purchasable by all users on Microsoft's store, starting at $999 for the Intel Core i5 version with 4GB RAM and 128GB of SSD storage.

microsoft surface laptop
In terms of specs, the Surface Laptop includes a PixelSense Display touchscreen with a resolution of 2256 x 1504 that measures 13.5 inches on the diagonal, made with edge-to-edge Corning Gorilla Glass 3. USB-C is not found on the Surface Laptop, but ports otherwise included are: USB, an SD card slot, mini DisplayPort, and a traditional charging port. The laptop will have a battery life that lasts for around 14.5 hours.

The Surface Laptop weighs 2.76 lbs and is 14.47mm at its thickest point, which Microsoft said is unmatched by any of its rivals' laptops. In comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar weighs 3 lbs and is 14.9mm thick. The keyboard section of the Surface Laptop is covered in the same Alcantara material used by the Surface Pro 4 keyboard, and resists spills and is easy to clean, according to the company.

We built Surface Laptop to do two things: refresh the classic laptop form factor that our customers, especially college students, have been asking for; and make a Surface that works seamlessly to showcase the best of Windows 10 S.

The result is the most personal and balanced Surface we’ve ever made. This Surface perfectly blends fabric and function, power and portability, beauty and performance. It does all of this without compromising on the things we know are important to higher education students: battery life, display quality, storage, and portability.

Microsoft's new Windows 10 S operating system comes installed on the computer and is said to provide "superior performance" on laptops at the lower end of the hardware spectrum. Windows 10 S is a walled garden OS, allowing only approved applications from the Windows Store to be downloaded on the system while also cutting down on some Windows 10 features to provide streamlined security and performance.


Microsoft said that these features are expected to come in handy for teachers in classrooms who need regulations on the computers and applications with which their students interact. Windows 10 S will be making it onto a variety of hardware devices, not just the Surface Laptop, including laptops from HP, Dell and Acer. These devices will come in much cheaper than Microsoft's first-party laptop as well, expected to range from $189 to $300.

Microsoft's EDU event also saw the announcement of new features for Minecraft: Education Edition, which will be gaining a new "Code Builder" tool that will allow students to connect to popular learn-to-code platforms to build impressive structures within the game. During the presentation, Microsoft gave a few examples of projects that students have already begun working on using Code Builder in Minecraft, including a Liberal Arts teacher tasking her class with reconstructing Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

surface mouse 1
Other details of the event include Microsoft Teams, which will let students and teachers collaborate on projects in a chat room, new 3D and mixed reality initiatives, and updated device management software for teachers. A new $79.99 Surface Arc Mouse was also announced today, and is aimed to be a "travel companion" for any Surface device, including the Surface Laptop. The mouse supports Bluetooth 4.0, houses two buttons, and is designed with a travel-friendly, bendable tail.

Pre-orders for the Surface Laptop will begin today, and the device is said to begin shipping on June 15. Configurations on the laptop will go all the way up to an i7 processor with 16GB RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. For a recap of Microsoft's EDU event, check out a highlight video that the company posted to its YouTube channel, as well as a design-focused overview of how Microsoft engineers crafted the Surface Laptop.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iOS 26.1 Beta Liquid Glass Battery Drain Test: Tinted vs Clear Mode

Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing. Test Settings I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iOS 26 Maps Glass

Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App

Sunday October 26, 2025 6:22 am PDT by
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iPhone 17 Colors

iPhone 18 Rumored to Feature 50% More RAM

Saturday October 25, 2025 2:57 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell. With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing. The iPhone 17 is the only new...
swift for android

Developers Can Now Make Android Apps With Apple's Swift

Sunday October 26, 2025 4:23 am PDT by
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android. The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
ios 26 digital id passport wallet

Apple Says U.S. Passport Feature on iPhone is Coming Soon

Monday October 27, 2025 7:41 am PDT by
You will "soon" be able to add a digital version of your U.S. passport to your iPhone, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. Bailey reiterated that the feature is coming soon during her keynote at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas on Sunday. On its iOS 26 page, Apple says the delayed feature will be "coming later this year." Apple's...

Top Rated Comments

profets Avatar
111 months ago
Ben Thompson had the best take on the keynote today...

https://twitter.com/benthompson/status/859404806175170564

Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFather Avatar
111 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dilster3k Avatar
111 months ago
This particular product may not appeal to me, however there is absolutely no denying that Microsoft has been killing it over the last few years. Props to them!

Edit: Surprised they're going for this approach again with 10 S, considering how hard Windows RT flopped.
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
XTheLancerX Avatar
111 months ago
Wait, it doesn't even have full Windows 10? If I'm already spending $1000 why not spend $100 more and then get a refurbished 12 inch 2016 MacBook? You get twice the RAM and twice the storage, plus a full OS (that id prefer to windows) that also can run full windows if you so desire. Far superior display, too.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mi7chy Avatar
111 months ago
No excuse for 4GB DRAM in 2017. Should be 8GB on the base model.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
soupcan Avatar
111 months ago
So it comes with a locked-down version of Windows and only has one USB-A port and a mini Displayport... port. And 4GB of RAM in the base model.

And people thought the MacBook had crap connectivity.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)